


Candles, Stars, and These Country Roads

by ApolloAttraction



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Gen, M/M, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-07-11 17:10:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15976760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ApolloAttraction/pseuds/ApolloAttraction
Summary: "I saw my Mom today"Ronan and Adam talking softly when they should be sleeping.





	Candles, Stars, and These Country Roads

They sleep with the window open, and the first summers’ night brings a warm, humid breeze into the room, carrying the smell of freshly turned earth and honeysuckle with it. Adam presses his forehead against the base of Ronan’s neck. He runs his fingers down Ronan’s bicep, tracing the curves of his muscles.

Ronan’s arm twitches. “You still awake?” he asks, voice rough with sleep.

“’Didn’t mean to wake you up,” Adam says and drapes his arm over Ronan’s waist.

“You didn’t,” Ronan rolls over onto his back and looks at Adam. “What are you thinking about?”

Adam tucks his head against Ronan’s shoulder. “It’s nothing. I just-“ he stops and lets out a sigh. “I saw my mom today.”

“Oh,” Ronan’s voice rumbles through his chest. Adam doesn’t need to look up to know he’s raising his eyebrows, waiting for the rest of the story.

“Nothing happened.” Adam curls his fingers into Ronan’s skin, pressing lightly and drawing his fingers along his side. “I had to stop to get gas by the highway. The station was selling cigarette cartons at state minimum. I think she was there buying them for Dad. She didn’t even see me. I saw her at the counter and went to get a drink before she noticed me.”

Ronan hums and takes Adam’s hand to tangle their fingers together. “How’d she look?”

Adam’s mouth twists into a frown at the question. “She had bruises on her arms, right at the sleeves.”

Ronan squeezes his fingers. “It’s not your fault, you know.”

“I know,” Adam swallows. He won’t admit that he’d been thinking about it and wondering what would be happening if he still lived with them. “I just…I never saw him touch her when I was there.”

Ronan squeezes Adam’s fingers again. “Hey.”

“Yea?” Adam asks.

“Hey, look at me,” Ronan says softly.

Adam lifts his head and places his chin on Ronan’s chest. “What?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Ronan lifts his free hand and brushes the back of his knuckles gently down the side of Adam’s face. “That’s on him.”

Adam leans into the touch. “I know.” He draws his brows down.

Ronan frowns and rubs his thumb against the furrow between Adam’s eyebrows. “You look like you’re still thinking?”

“I’m always thinking,” Adam says with a little frown.

Ronan snorts. “You know what I mean.” He turns on his side to face Adam and raises one brow. “Something else happen?”

Adam untangles his fingers and moves into Ronan’s arms. He wraps one arm over him and uses his fingertips to outline the pieces of his tattoos that creep over his shoulder. “The cashier recognized me. She thinks I should have talked to Mom.”

Ronan huffs. “Of course she did.”

Adam laughs mirthlessly and presses his face back to Ronan’s shoulder. “She said ‘I know you all had some _family business_ , but that’s your ‘ma. There’s no reason to be hiding in the coke bottles. You don’t know how much time you have with ‘em and you only get one family.’”

“Bullshit.” Ronan says. “And it’s none of her fucking business anyway.”

Adam nods and mumbles: “I hate this town.”

Ronan rubs circles into the small of Adam’s back. “This town doesn’t deserve you.”

Adam smirks and pulls back to look at Ronan. “You think?”

“Without a doubt.” He presses his nose to Adam’s nose. “You still look like you’re thinking.”

Adam laughs lightly and the corners of his lips twitch into a smile. “You know I thought that if I got out of this town, I’d never come back.”

It was Ronan’s turn to frown. “I know,” he whispers.

“I don’t come back to Henrietta.” Adam says and presses his lips to Ronan’s. The kiss is slow and lingering. “I pass through Henrietta.” He presses another kiss to Ronan’s shoulder. “I come back to the Barns.”

“To here?” Ronan says carefully and pulls him closer.

“To here. To opal.” Adam looks up. “To you.”

Ronan smiles and presses a kiss to the top of his head. “Are you good with that?”

“Always.” Adam answers and pulls back to press another kiss to Ronan’s lips.

“Still thinking?” Ronan asks when he pulls back from the kiss.

Adam shakes his head. “No.”

“Good,” Ronan says and gives Adam another, small kiss.

 They lapse into silence, and Adam counts Ronan’s breaths. He closes his eyes, thinking that Henrietta is nothing to him, but here at the barns, in Ronan’s arms, this is home.

**Author's Note:**

> If you like this story, you can reblog it on tumblr from http://apolloattraction.tumblr.com/


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